Today's robotic cleaners include cleaning functions, such as complete cleaning, partial cleaning, reserved cleaning, etc. Regarding the reserved cleaning, up until now, the robot cleaners have only supported passive scheduling, meaning that they start automatic cleaning at specific times that have been passively scheduled by a user. A robot cleaner's intelligence is focused on how much more quickly and carefully it runs to clean a given space. Like conventional cleaners, robot cleaners are also evaluated according to normal performance, such as, noise levels, suction power, etc. Conventional robot cleaners return to charging stations and recharge themselves if their battery-charge level drops below a predetermined level. In this case, how well a robot cleaner finds the way to and docks with the charging station is also considered a performance to be evaluated.
Since robot cleaners are user-friendly products that combine robots and consumer appliances, not only robot industries but also consumer electronics industries are entering the robot cleaner business. Furthermore, due to the increasing number of products and various uses, robot cleaner markets are attracting more and more consumers and are expected to have a high growth potential.